A Soul-Deep Thirst

The season of Lent helps focus our hearts and minds on intentional contemplation of all that God has done through Jesus. We are reminded of the intensity of God’s love for us through the Passion narrative of Christ, and we are brought anew into the drama of anticipation, betrayal, injustice, and death. But we know that on a Sunday soon we will lift our voices together in joy and proclaim, “Hallelujah, He is Risen!”

Psalm 42 walks us through a similar drama, one of lament, reflection, honesty, and hope. The attitude of the psalmist is one of contemplation and longing, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” I have always pictured a sweet doe, like the ones I often see driving on upper Asbury Street toward Topsfield, quietly sidling up to a cool stream to quench her thirst. But the image here is more desperate, a panting, soul-deep thirst that is yearning for something vital that only God can fulfill. What the psalmist yearns for is not abstract. The real water of the flowing stream will satisfy the thirst of the deer. The living God will satisfy the souls of his people.

The circumstances of the psalmist were such that he could not worship in the temple, so he lamented, “When can I go and meet with God?” There was a need for a sense of place and time when God’s presence could be encountered and the desire for communion with him fulfilled. This is where the world of the psalmist and the hope we anticipate during the season of Lent converge – under the New Covenant in Jesus we have the promise of God’s presence in the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says that as believers, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where God’s presence dwells.

I’m reminded of the familiar saying, “You can lead a horse (or maybe a deer?) to water, but you can’t make him drink.” As a Christian, I cannot get any closer to the presence of God. I know he is with me, the Holy Spirit in me. Do I desire God, yes! But do I always allow him to satisfy my soul-deep thirst? Sinfully, no. When I refuse to drink from the flowing stream of living water, I find myself panting, desperately searching for God as if he is the one who is distant. When I drink, I am filled and strengthened to serve the Lord and become more like Jesus.

During Lent this year, instead of focusing on what I will give up, I want to focus on what I need to take in – living water. Just as darkness and light cannot coexist, you cannot be thirsty and hydrated at the same time. Drink from the stream of living water by allowing the Holy Spirit to instruct you in his Word, by entering his presence in worship, and coming before his throne in prayer. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

Dear Lord, our deepest longing is to be filled by your living water. We want to turn from every sin that keeps us from you. Please shine your light into the dark corners of our lives, so we may see that which separates us from you. May we, like the deer, yearn only for you. May we live in the joy of your presence as we seek to serve you each day. In Christ’s name, Amen.